Most of the divions this year have teams that are clearly above the rest of the pack, while there are some divisions that will come down to the wire, as they feature evenly matched teams who’s head to head matchups will be the deciding factor.
Division Winners: Chiefs, Bills, Browns, Titans, Rams, Washington Football Team, Buccaneers, and Packers
With the division winners out of the way, we have the wild card spots. With the new rules that took place last year, we now have 6 wild card spots instead of 4, 3 for each conference. Last year, wild card teams went a very impressive 4-2 in the first round, scoring wins from the ravens, titans, browns, and bucs. This year’s wild cards have a chance to match that success, as there are a lot of talented teams that will be making the wild card this year
Wild Card Teams: Chargers, Ravens, Dolphins, 49ers, Cardinals, Saints
The mvp, per usual, is one of the hardest awards to predict. The NFL is brimming with elite talent, so many players could easily capture an MVP this year. We know the obvious choices; Mahomes, Rodgers, Russ, Josh Allen, Derrick Henry, etc. But this year, an AFC QB will earn his first MVP of his career, completing his full 180 of his career that was almost over.
MVP prediction: Ryan Tannehill
The offensive and defensive player of the year. One holds more value than the other, the defensive player of the year is basically the MVP for defensive players, since they usually never have a shot at the MVP; only one defensive player has ever won MVP, Lawerence Taylor. While the offensive player of the year usually ends up going to whoever wins MVP or to a skilled position player who had an exceptional season. Both awards will be won by players who will grace the trophy for the first time in their careers.
Offensive Player of the Year: Davante Adams Defensive Player of the Year: Myles Garrett
Comeback player of the year is perennially the most inspirational award in the sport. It’s breath taking to see a player return from from major setbacks and go on to have great seasons, this year, I’m accepting the CPOY to have an MVP like season after returning from a gruesome ankle injury that ended his historical 2020 season.
Comeback Player of the Year: Dak Prescott
One thing to look forward to about this upcoming season is the embarrassment of talent in this rookie class. Yes, you had the 5 QBs that were first round picks but only 3 of them are starting opening day. But when you look to other positions, there’s even more talent that can immediately make impacts to their teams this year. There’s a lot of players that could easily put together incredible seasons to earn them an offensive or defensive rookie of the year, but 2 players stand out the most, and that’s why they will be the 2021-2022 offensive and defensive rookie of the year.
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Javonte Williams Defensive Rookie of the Year: Patrick Surtain II
Conference championship games are always some of the best games of the season and sometimes are even more competitive than the super bowl, last year Kansas City handed Buffalo pretty easily in the AFC championship while Tampa marched down to Lambeau and beat Rodgers and the Pack. This year, I expect both conference championship games to be 2 tightly contested games with some of the same participants and some of the new participants.
NFC Conference Championship Game: Packers vs Rams
AFC Conference Championship Game: Chiefs vs Titans
Now to the last prediction of the season; the super bowl and super bowl winner. Last year, the Bucs harassed Mahomes all game en route to their second title in franchise history. This year, I think Mahomes and company will be back in the Super Bowl, but they will face new competition as Mahomes tries to pursue his 2nd super bowl ring in his young career.
TheDyspatch 